Question Can I paint my ram?

[BeastHotDogGUY]

I saw a tiktok that said you can take off a rams casing then paint it and put it back on soI was wondering if that was ok to do, or would it affect anything?

 

[Gam3r01]

Should be fine as long as you dont physically damage anything.
RAM heatspreaders are primarily for looks anyway.

 

[BFG-9000]

This was way easier back in the day when the heatspreaders were clipped on, but nowadays they are almost always stuck on with adhesive thermal tape. While masking and painting them without disassembly is possible with some care, be aware that the act of peeling off masking tape can generate thousands of volts.

Theoretically it should run a bit hotter as the paint insulates, but honestly heatsinks on RAM are mostly aesthetic anyway, mostly being used to just denote a premium product to the buyer. As opposed to a heatsink for a M.2 SSD which can really be needed to avoid thermal throttling

Just don't do it like this, or if you do be sure to put it on tiktok:

 

[punkncat]

It will be fine, just be sure to keep the connection clean.

 

[USAFRet]

I saw a tiktok that said you can take off a rams casing then paint it and put it back on soI was wondering if that was ok to do, or would it affect anything?

If you're going to put it back on, why not just carefully paint around what is on there?

Taking it off is more risky than not taking it off at all.

 

[Zerk2012]

I saw a tiktok that said you can take off a rams casing then paint it and put it back on soI was wondering if that was ok to do, or would it affect anything?

Why not just paint the top with it still on the memory that's all you can really see anyhow.

 

[BeastHotDogGUY]

Yeah b

If you're going to put it back on, why not just carefully paint around what is on there?

Taking it off is more risky than not taking it off at all.

I guess at first I was just thinking about spraypainting it

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah b

I guess at first I was just thinking about spraypainting it

And I was thinking a small paintbrush.

With spraypaint, you'd have to tape off the pins anyway.
So why not just tape off ALL of it you don't want paint on, and do that.

I could easily see "issues" from you removing the heat spreader.

 

[Karadjgne]

To be fair, prior DDR never got warm enough to even require a heat spreader, but higher speed DDR4 and DDR5 especially can and does benefit from a heat spreader.

So that said, a thin paint layer wouldn't affect the ability enough to worry about, but a thick layer, or several coats could potentially make use of the heat spreader next to pointless as it'll become an insulator instead of a soak

 

[BFG-9000]

The original use for heatspreaders was for Rambus, which could indeed concentrate enough heat on one part of a chip to damage it, hence the heatspreader to spread it around--but the whole module did not appreciably get warm so no fins or anything were required.

High speed DDR5 can consume >8w per module which is even more than the typical blazing hot M.2 SSD, but at least the surface area is much greater. When packed together, the DIMMs can get quite warm without adequate ventilation, but if there is even a slight airflow then a layer of paint should not really make much difference.

 

[Deleted member 2947362]

The original use for heatspreaders was for Rambus, which could indeed concentrate enough heat on one part of a chip to damage it, hence the heatspreader to spread it around--but the whole module did not appreciably get warm so no fins or anything were required.

High speed DDR5 can consume >8w per module which is even more than the typical blazing hot M.2 SSD, but at least the surface area is much greater. When packed together, the DIMMs can get quite warm without adequate ventilation, but if there is even a slight airflow then a layer of paint should not really make much difference.

Not only that, the heat spreader's are held on with four rivets to ensure good contact!!, well they are on the sticks I still have, and they right in front of me lol

like the 256meg Samsung's (MR 16R1628DF0-CT9 1066-32P) sticks

And the 128meg NEC MC-4R128CPE6C-854 sticks

The sticks even have a WARNING HOT on them lol

 

[Ralston18]

I will make a different suggestion.

Simply do not paint it at all.

Makes all potentially related problems moot.

Forget the cosmetics - no real benefit. Plus, sooner or later no one will notice.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[CountMike]

Just tape off contacts with quality masking tape (the one that leaves no residue) and lightly coat heat spreaders using a spray can lacquer paint, Paint from spray cans is very fine and thin, it will not change thermals.